Game of the Month: July 2005

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Sports edge out RPGs in July's month of gaming.

By IGN PlayStation Team

With all the videogames that are released each and every month, it can be quite a difficult task to decide on which title to spend your hard-earned money. Granted, you could go by our review scores alone and weed through the long list of names to find something that scored high or low, but what if you had somewhere else to turn?

Rather than wait until the end of the year like for our big award blowout, your incredibly masculine friends at IGN.com have decided to employ a monthly tribute to the weeks that were. We're resolved to illustrate to our readers what we thought was the very best game for each system over the past month, and tell you the reason why.

While some of us often chime in with our comments at the end of reviews, for the most part, the reviews on IGN are primarily written by one editor; in this feature we get all of the editors on a particular channel to vote for our Game of the Month. What better way to represent your channel than to speak your mind all at once?

How does it work? It's simple. Any game released in the past month is eligible for the award and is taken through a battery of tests by every editor on that particular channel. After we've finished evaluating each game that comes down the pipeline, we put our heads together and decide on a single "best of" winner that's worthy of the title "IGN Game of the Month." Pretty straightforward, don't you think?

Now that we have the guidelines out of the way, let's move on, and congratulate this month's winner...

Why We Picked It: NCAA 2006 is a magnanimous leap forward for the franchise. Some key improvements have eliminated most of its faulty aspects and technical oversights. Nothing has been compromised, and every new enhancement serves a purpose with nothing implemented just to fill up space on the back of the box. NCAA 2006 plays faster, runs smoother, looks more authentic, and probably tastes better. It's a fitting segue for the title's move to the next generation, and football enthusiasts and casual gamers alike should love this.

Reader Review quote: "An incredibly deep game that got even better with additions and overhauls on what was hindering it over the last few years. If you are a fan of football in any way, shapes, or form... pick this game up." (Read the full review) -- submitted by DrDarkStryfe

Why We Picked It: Makai Kingdom is probably the deepest and most giving RPG to hit the PlayStation 2 all year. With character customization that can only be eclipsed by its predecessor, Phantom Brave, and a more balanced approach to strategy when compared to any of the NIS' prior games, Zedda's little adventure gives fans plenty to talk about. The humorous characters and their excellent voice-over work is worth a lot, and when you throw in a ton of replay goodies like Reincarnations, secret characters, hidden dungeons, multiple endings, and a New Game Plus feature, Makai Kingdom is a no-brainer for genre fans.

July fared slightly better compared to June with a whopping five games to crack the 7.0 mark. But we're still in the summer months and things don't usually pick up until September. Even so, August brings a healthy crop of games that appear to have plenty of potential. Check back with us again next month to see which ones fared best.